Historic, Archive Document Do not assume content reflects current scientific knowledge, policies, or practices. 0 ^ AO Forest Service CENTRAL STATES FOREST EXPERIMENT STATION Columbus, Ohio Technical Note 60 October 1, 19^3 "s, Preliminary Report on Lumber Production for 1942 in Illinois— ^ By L. F, Kellogg, Silviculturist and H. W. Richman, Assistant Forester, WPB Surveys, Illinois During 1942, 1039 active sawmills in Illinois produced 100,269,000 board feet of lumber. In addition, some 283 idle sa.wmills brought the total number in the State to 1,322. Early in the year, mills were producing rapidly; but by midyear loss of labor to other industries and to the armed forces was telling and production lessened materially during the last six months. Final production statistics which are now being compiled by the Bureau of the Census and which will be released by that agency in due time, are based on a complete coverage of the industry by mail supplemented by a field canvass of delinquents and new mills by the Forest Service. The year 1942 is the first for which lumber production has been obtained in the entire State in this manner. Practically the entire production of the State was hardwood (99* S per- cent); but some 201,000 board feet of softwood was produced, consisting of bald cypress (native in swamps on the State's southern borders), northern white pine, mostly from planted groves, windbreaks and shelter- belts, and lesser amounts of native red cedar and other planted conifers or softwoods (table 1), For the State as a. whole, oak led with 65. 1 percent of the total, followed by cottonwood (8.0 percent), elm (6.9 percent), maple (4.5 percent), sycamore (3*9 percent), and other hard- woods. Small local fa.rm mills and custom mills sawed 10.4 percent of the total, or some 10,399>000 board feet. 1_/ Preliminary data subject to revision. Final production statistics will be released by the Bureau of the Census. Both preliminary and final statistics are the result of surveys made by the Forest Service, U. S. Department of Agriculture, in cooperation with the Bureau of the Census, U. S. Department of Commerce and the Statistics Division, War Production Board. In Illinois, the State Forester and the Extension Service and the Department of Forestry at the University of Illinois all gave active support and assistance to the work. Table 1. — Estimated lUfobei4 production In ILLINOIS, by- kinds of wood and size class of mill, in 1942 Kind of wood , Quantity produced per annum by mills sawing: : 49 M & less : 50 M & over : per annum : per annum • • ‘ Total • • • • Proportion M feet b.m. M feet b.m. M ft. b.m. Percent Softwoods Cedar — 35 35 Cypress Larch ±7 , Pine, white — ' , Pino, yellow *L> 25 35 60 0.1 — 10 10 16 47 63 0.1 8 15 23 - Spruce _/ 10 - 10 - Total softwoods 59 142 201 0.2 Hardwoods Ash 91 951 1,042 1.0 Basswood 45 166 211 0.2 Beech 6 565 571 0. 6 Birch 12 178 190 0.2 Cottonwood 534 7,464 7,998 8.0 Elm 941 5,967 6,908 6.9 Gum, red 128 2,069 2,197 2.2 Hickory 225 2 ,4l0 2.635 2.6 Maple 372 4,116 4,488 4.5 Oak 7,325 57,948 65,273 65.1 Sycamore 498 3,409. 3,907 3.9 Tupelo - Black gum 22 2,245 2,267 2.3 Walnut 101 1,264 1,365 1.3 Yellow Poplar 13 374 387 0.4 Other hardwoods Black Cherry 4 4 Butternut 1 - 1 - Hackberry 26 72 98 0.1 Honey locust — 10 10 - Pecan' - 500 500 0.5 Sassafras — 1 1 — Willow - 15 15 - Total hardwoods io,34o 89,728 100,068 99.8 Total all woods 10,399 89,870 100,269 100.0 Percent - 10.4 89.6 100.0 - 1 _/ All planted.; probably European larch. 2 / Almost all from old planted windbreaks and farmstead trees; very little ' native growth. j 5/ Mostly from old planted windbreaks and farmstead trees; 15 M shipped in as logs from the South. 4/ Planted Norway Spruce; none aative. - 2 - Compilation shows that the lumber industry reaches grea.test importance in the southern hqlf of the State, where counties show the largest totals of production. Several of the upper Mississippi River counties, and a few bordering the Illinois River likewise produced noteworthy amounts. By and large, the prairie counties show the lowest amounts of lumber and indeed three are not known to contain a single sawmill in them. Annual lumber production varied from 5,000 board feet per county to 4,490,000 board feet per county. In table 2, the production by counties or groups of counties, end by two mill classes provides detail on the producing local- ities and the amounts of lumber originating there. Table 2. — . Estimated lumber production and number of sawmills by counties and by size classes of mill, in ILLINOIS, in 1942 1/ . Production class , ....... County : : : -Active Mills or tldle ;49M or less per Yr s 50M cr roreper Tr. ;^otal ; ^otal : Counties :mills ;Mills ‘.Production :Mills ;Production :m^--^s;Production: Mills No- No . M ft. b „ m , No. M ft. bcm. No. M ft. b , m . No. Adams 6 14 238 7 1,245 27 1,483 21 Alexander 2 5 160 3 1,931 10 2,091 8 Bond 3 10 151 4 750 17 901 l4 Brown — 6 ■89 4 6p2 10 74i 10 Bur eau 4 6 38 5 683 15 721 11 Calhoun Carroll & 4 6 105 7 3,276 17 3,381 13 Whiteside Ca.ss & l 12 218 4 950 17 1,168 16 Menard 5 l4 317 4 1,034 23 1,351 18 Champion 2 4 70 — — 6 70 4 Christian 2 3 27 4 1,393 9 1,420 7 Clark 2 9 123 3 351 l4 474 12 Clay 4 6 106 11 2,301 21 2,407 17 Clinton 5 12 211 10 2,243 27 2,454 22 CoX os 3 3 27 5 394 11 421 8 Crawford Li 6 100 4 368 l4 468 10 Do Kalb — ~ — - — — Du Page — — — — — — Edgar Edwards & 4 — — 3 692 7 692 3 Wabash 1 4 118 6 434 ■ll 552 10 Effingham 3 23 328 ll 4,162 37 4,490 34 Fayette 3 20 348 11 1,554 34 1,902 31 Franklin 6 5 74 6 953 17 1,027 11 Fulton Gallatin & 8 19 232 10 1,424 37 1,656 29 Saline 2 3 33 6 4,125 ll 4,158 9 Greene 7 b 128 7 1,422 20 1,550 13 Hamilton Hardin & 7 4 55 11 2,655 22 2,710 15 Pope 5 4 84 8 1,090 17 1,174 12 Henry Iroquois & 3 4 56 3 323 10 379 7 Ford - 3 62 - - 3 62 3 - 3 - Treble 2 (continued) County or Counties • : Idle : Mi 11s Production class : 49M cr less per jear : 50M 194-2, and the amount of those stocks, by pro- duction classes, in ILLINOIS Production class (M feet b.m. ) Mills reporting stocks on hand Stocks on hand, 1942 Mills Production January 1 December 31 Numb er M feet b.m. M feet b.m. M feet b.m. 1-49 291/ 54i 78 53 50 - 499 gg 17,372 1,801 1,726 500 - 999 18 13,051 1,242 583 1000 - 4999 9 14,147 3,313 2,242 Total i44 45,ih 6,434 4,6o4 l/ Includes 3 idle mills reporting stocks.